In modern, urban communities, refuse containers are used to store accumulated household refuse until such household refuse can be collected by garbage trucks or the like. Typically, such refuse containers includes a lid for concealing the household refuse collected therein, as well as to prevent wild animals from accessing this household refuse. With some containers, the lid is integrally mounted to a storage bin which contains the collected household refuse. Such containers, however, are awkward to use. For example, available latching mechanisms continue to be prone to opening by wild animals.
Examples of prior refuse containers of this type can be found in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2009/0223965 A1, 2011/0049152 A1 and 2011/0049151 A1. All these applications are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
The present invention is provided to solve the problems discussed above and other problems, and to provide advantages and aspects not provided by prior refuse containers of this type. A full discussion of the features and advantages of the present invention is deferred to the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings